List of forms of government
167-627: The Confederate States Congress was both the provisional and permanent legislative assembly / legislature of the Confederate States of America that existed from February 1861 to April / June 1865, during the American Civil War . Its actions were, for the most part, concerned with measures to establish a new national government for the Southern proto-state in the current Southern United States region, and to prosecute
334-489: A charter for a new colony to the Virginia Company of London . The group financed an expedition under Christopher Newport that established a settlement named Jamestown in 1607. Though more settlers soon joined, many were ill-prepared for the dangers of the new settlement. As the colony's president, John Smith secured food for the colonists from nearby tribes, but after he left in 1609, this trade stopped and
501-663: A group of Spanish Jesuits , explored the Chesapeake Bay during the 16th century. To help counter Spain's colonies in the Caribbean , Queen Elizabeth I of England supported Walter Raleigh 's 1584 expedition to the Atlantic coast of North America . The name "Virginia" was used by Captain Arthur Barlowe in the expedition's report, and may have been suggested by Raleigh or Elizabeth (perhaps noting her status as
668-540: A loyal opposition , but that would develop in Congress only after more assertive administration policies in the conduct of the war. The first session of the First Congress sat from February 18 to April 21, 1862, a total of 63 days. During this time, the states of Missouri, Kentucky and northwest Virginia were occupied by Union forces and used as staging areas for further advances into Confederate territory. After
835-593: A racially segregated society , and in 1902 rewrote the state constitution to include a poll tax and other voter registration measures that effectively disenfranchised most African Americans and many poor whites. New economic forces meanwhile industrialized the Commonwealth. Virginian James Albert Bonsack invented the tobacco cigarette rolling machine in 1880 leading to new large-scale production centered around Richmond. Railroad magnate Collis Potter Huntington founded Newport News Shipbuilding in 1886, which
1002-425: A raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia , in an attempt to start a slave revolt across the southern states. The polarized national response to his raid, capture, trial, and execution that December marked a tipping point for many who believed slavery would need to be ended by force. Abraham Lincoln 's 1860 election further convinced many southern supporters of slavery that his opposition to its expansion would ultimately mean
1169-402: A series of ambush-style killings between colonists and natives under Chief Powhatan and his brother began, resulting in mass starvation in the colony that winter. By the end of the colony's first fourteen years, over eighty percent of the roughly eight thousand settlers transported there had died. Demand for exported tobacco , however, fueled the need for more workers. Starting in 1618,
1336-551: A 60-day furlough for an enlistment of three years or the duration. The measure destabilized the entire Provisional Army, resulting in the ousting of large numbers of serving officers in company and regimental election campaigns. Railroad transportation was snarled with the glut of furloughed soldiers coming and going. In the last of its actions, the Provisional Congress instructed the states in several duties. These included redrawing congressional districts to conform to
1503-489: A Confederate army of 400,000 for the duration. Davis was authorized an additional 400,000 of state militia troops for service of one to three years. On May 6, 1861, Congress authorized presidential issue of letters of marque and reprisal against vessels of the United States. Ship owners were eligible for eighty-five percent of everything seized. Subsequent legislation provided for a bonus of $ 20 for each person aboard
1670-538: A Southern Confederacy, and, after their next commissioners returned on January 11, 1861, South Carolina invited all slave states in the Union to meet in Montgomery on February 4. Another six states called secession conventions of their own, held statewide elections to select delegates, convened and passed secession ordinances between January 9 and February 1, 1861. South Carolina set the pattern for electing delegates to
1837-670: A bloody Confederate victory. Union General George B. McClellan organized the Army of the Potomac , which landed on the Virginia Peninsula in March 1862 and reached the outskirts of Richmond that June. With Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston wounded in fighting outside the city, command of his Army of Northern Virginia fell to Robert E. Lee . Over the next month, Lee drove the Union army back , and starting that September led
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#17327652238252004-492: A captured or destroyed vessel, and twenty percent of the value of each enemy warship sunk or destroyed. The tightening Union blockade made the privateers less effective, as they could not return prizes to Southern ports for disposition. Early volunteer law enabled the president to accept seamen from the state navies, but few enlisted in Confederate service. In December 1861, Congress authorized an enlistment bonus of $ 50 in
2171-439: A century, at a magnitude of 5.8, struck central Virginia on August 23, 2011 . 35 million years ago, a bolide impacted what is now eastern Virginia. The resulting Chesapeake Bay impact crater may explain what earthquakes and subsidence the region does experience. A meteor impact is also theorized as the source of Lake Drummond , the largest of the two natural lakes in the state . The Commonwealth's carbonate rock
2338-884: A convention of delegates from 13 British colonies on the east coast of North America became the provisional government of the United States in 1776, during the American Revolutionary War . The government shed its provisional status in 1781, following ratification of the Articles of Confederation , and continued in existence as the Congress of the Confederation until it was supplanted by the United States Congress in 1789. The practice of using "provisional government" as part of
2505-575: A few other economic categories. It was passed at the end of the First Session of the First Congress. Provisional government A provisional government , also called an interim government , an emergency government , a transitional government or provisional leadership , is a temporary government formed to manage a period of transition, often following state collapse , revolution , civil war , or some combination thereof. Provisional governments generally come to power in connection with
2672-739: A formal name can be traced to Talleyrand 's government in France in 1814. In 1843, American pioneers in the Oregon Country , in the Pacific Northwest region of North America established the Provisional Government of Oregon —as the U.S. federal government had not yet extended its jurisdiction over the region—which existed until March 1849. The numerous provisional governments during the Revolutions of 1848 gave
2839-539: A governor who ignored the assembly and sent him back to England against his will. William Berkeley was named governor in 1642, just as the turmoil of the English Civil War and Interregnum permitted the colony greater autonomy. As a supporter of the king, Berkeley welcomed other Cavaliers who fled to Virginia. He surrendered to Parliamentarians in 1652, but after the 1660 Restoration made him governor again, he blocked assembly elections and exacerbated
3006-408: A grave crisis that has caused the previous government to suddenly and irreversibly collapse, such as economic collapse , civil war , defeat in a foreign war , revolution , or the death of a long-serving authoritarian ruler. Questions of democratic transition and state-building are often fundamental to the formation and policies of such governments. Provisional governments maintain power until
3173-618: A major urban business and shopping center in Tysons , Virginia's largest office market. Neighboring Prince William County , with over 450,000 residents, is Virginia's second-most populous county and home to Marine Corps Base Quantico , the FBI Academy , and Manassas National Battlefield Park . Arlington County is the smallest self-governing county in the U.S. by land area, and local politicians have proposed reorganizing it as an independent city due to its high density. Loudoun County
3340-437: A national park, but is protected by both state and federal legislation and the inter-state Chesapeake Bay Program . Virginia is divided into 95 counties and 38 independent cities , which the U.S. Census Bureau describes as county-equivalents . This general method of treating cities and counties on par with each other is unique to Virginia and stretches back to the influence of Williamsburg and Norfolk in
3507-568: A new government can be appointed by a regular political process, which is generally an election . They may be involved with defining the legal structure of subsequent regimes, guidelines related to human rights and political freedoms , the structure of the economy , government institutions , and international alignment. Provisional governments differ from caretaker governments , which are responsible for governing within an established parliamentary system and serve temporarily after an election, vote of no confidence or cabinet crisis , until
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#17327652238253674-481: A new government can be appointed. Caretaker governments operate entirely within the existing constitutional framework and most countries tightly circumscribe their authority, in contrast to provisional governments, which often operate in the absence of any elected legislature and usually enjoy expansive, if temporary, powers. In opinion of Yossi Shain and Juan J. Linz, provisional governments can be classified to four groups: The establishment of provisional governments
3841-627: A non-voting delegate in Congress and the Confederacy assumed all debts owed to the United States Government. They, in turn, promised mounted volunteer companies. Agricultural tribes of Osages, Senecas, Shawnees, and Quapaws received clothes and industrial aids in return for military assistance. The Comanches and ten other tribes promised non-aggression in return for rations from the Confederate Government. In
4008-461: A non-voting delegate. The Southwest Indians were initially sympathetic to the Confederate cause, as many were slaveholders. During the spring and summer of 1861, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Seminoles, Creeks, and Cherokees held tribal conventions that resolved themselves into independent nations and began negotiations with the Provisional Congress. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Albert Pike made three kinds of treaties. The Five Civilized Tribes were allowed
4175-643: A pointed effort to incorporate states' rights principles, the Provisional Confederate Constitution referred to the "Sovereign and Independent States" of the permanent union. The U.S. Constitution's "general welfare" was omitted. The Confederate Congress was to be similar to the Continental Congresses, with one chamber representing states, with a quorum of state delegations. Each state could fill Provisional Congressional vacancies as it wished. Although not mandatory,
4342-492: A provision (Article I, Section 8, Clause 17), essentially duplicated from the United States Constitution , for the establishment of a federal district of up to one hundred square miles. It was widely assumed in the Confederacy that this district would be sited somewhere other than an existing state capital after the war was won, similar to how Washington, D.C. , was founded, or even more optimistically that
4509-579: A referendum and went into effect in 1971. In 1989, Douglas Wilder became the first African American elected as governor in the United States, and in 1992, Bobby Scott became the first Black congressman from Virginia since 1888. The expansion of federal government offices into Northern Virginia's suburbs during the Cold War boosted the region's population and economy. The Central Intelligence Agency outgrew their offices in Foggy Bottom during
4676-943: A strategy called " massive resistance ", and the General Assembly passed a package of laws in 1956 that cut off funding to local schools that desegregated , causing some to close. Courts ruled the strategy unconstitutional, and on February 2, 1959, Black students integrated schools in Arlington and Norfolk , where they were known as the Norfolk 17 . County leaders in Prince Edward, however, instead shut their school system in June 1959. The Supreme Court ordered them to reopen and integrate their public schools , which finally happened in September 1964. Federal passage of
4843-619: A strong effect on eastern and southeastern coastal areas, making the climate there warmer but also more constant. Most of Virginia's recorded extremes in temperature and precipitation have occurred in the Blue Ridge Mountains and areas west. Virginia receives an average of 43.47 inches (110 cm) of precipitation annually, with the Shenandoah Valley being the state's driest region. Virginia has around 35–45 days with thunderstorms annually, and storms are common in
5010-699: A third of Virginia's population of 8.7 million live. Eastern Virginia is part of the Atlantic Plain , and the Middle Peninsula forms the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay . Central Virginia lies predominantly in the Piedmont , the foothill region of the Blue Ridge Mountains , which cross the western and southwestern parts of the state. The fertile Shenandoah Valley fosters the state's most productive agricultural counties, while
5177-571: A total population of around 15,000 in 1607. Three-fourths of the native population in Virginia, however, died from smallpox and other Old World diseases during that century, disrupting their oral traditions and complicating research into earlier periods. Additionally, many primary sources, including those that mention Powhatan's daughter, Pocahontas , were created by Europeans, who may have held biases or misunderstood native social structures and customs. Several European expeditions, including
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5344-461: A war that had to be sustained throughout the existence of the Confederacy. At first, it met as a provisional congress both in the first capital city of Montgomery, Alabama , and the second in Richmond, Virginia . As was the case for the provisional Congress after it moved northeast to Richmond, the permanent Congress met in the existing Virginia State Capitol , a building which it also shared with
5511-523: A week before it sat as a Constitutional Convention, the Provisional Congress established the several executive departments, virtually mirroring those of the U.S. Government. The only major exception was the Confederate Post Office , which was required to be financially self-sustaining. On March 4, 1861, the Confederacy adopted its first flag , which was used throughout the Confederacy on the battlefield and at government office buildings for
5678-462: A year, with additional levies of state militias for six months. Following the assault on Fort Sumter in April, Lincoln responded with a call for 75,000 troops among loyal states to restore federal property ceded by Southern state legislatures to the United States. The Provisional Congress answered by removing its limit on enlistment durations, and, following the victory at First Manassas , it authorized
5845-616: Is called the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, named after the river of the same name that flows through it. The Cumberland Plateau and Cumberland Mountains are in the southwest corner of Virginia, south of the Allegheny Plateau . In this region, rivers flow northwest into the Ohio River basin. The Virginia Seismic Zone has not had a history of regular earthquake activity. Earthquakes are rarely above 4.5 in magnitude . The Commonwealth's largest earthquake in at least
6012-480: Is filled with more than 4,000 limestone caves , ten of which are open for tourism, including the popular Luray Caverns and Skyline Caverns . Virginia's iconic Natural Bridge is the remaining roof of a collapsed limestone cave. Coal mining takes place in the three mountainous regions. More than 72 million tons of other non-fuel resources, such as slate , kyanite , sand, or gravel, were mined in Virginia in 2020 . The largest known deposits of uranium in
6179-553: Is frequently tied to the implementation of transitional justice . Provisional governments may be responsible for implementing transitional justice measures as part of the path to establishing a permanent government structure. The early provisional governments were created to prepare for the return of royal rule. Irregularly convened assemblies during the English Revolution , such as Confederate Ireland (1641–49), were described as "provisional". The Continental Congress ,
6346-669: Is the Virginia General Assembly , which was established in July 1619, making it the oldest current law-making body in North America . Unlike other states, cities and counties in Virginia function as equals, but the state government manages most local roads. It is also the only state where governors are prohibited from serving consecutive terms. Nomadic hunters are estimated to have arrived in Virginia around 17,000 years ago. Evidence from Daugherty's Cave shows it
6513-545: Is the fastest-growing county in the state. In western Virginia, Roanoke city and Montgomery County , part of the Blacksburg–Christiansburg metropolitan area , both have surpassed a population of 100,000 since 2018. On the western edge of the Tidewater region is Virginia's capital, Richmond , which has a population of around 230,000 in its city proper and over 1.3 million in its metropolitan area. On
6680-631: The Allies . As of 2024 in Europe, only Belarus , South Ossetia , and the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine have provisional governments. The former two were established by the opposition in parallel with the government of the Republic of South Ossetia–State of Alania and the government of the Republic of Belarus , while the latter exists as a Russian puppet government in opposition to
6847-400: The American Civil War . These included debates whether to pass President Jefferson Davis 's war measures and deliberations on alternatives to administration proposals, both of which were often denounced as discordant, regardless of the outcome. Congress was often held in low regard regardless of what it did. Amidst early battlefield victories, few sacrifices were asked of those who resided in
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7014-647: The Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge , which marks the beginning of the Outer Banks . State agencies control about one-third of protected land in the state, and the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation manages over 75,900 acres (307.2 km ) in forty Virginia state parks and 59,222 acres (239.7 km ) in 65 Natural Area Preserves , plus three undeveloped parks. Breaks Interstate Park crosses
7181-774: The Battle of Shiloh , Union forces moved into the Tennessee Valley reaching into Alabama. Amphibious operations by the Union saw gains along the Atlantic Coast furthering the Union blockade at Fernandia and St. Augustine, Florida, New Berne, North Carolina, and Fort Pulaski at Savannah, Georgia. The elections of November 1861 gave every indication that the political accommodation between president and Congress would continue. The Battle of First Manassas and General Stonewall Jackson's Valley campaign bolstered confidence in
7348-699: The Civil Rights Act (1964) and Voting Rights Act (1965), and their later enforcement by the Justice Department , helped end racial segregation in Virginia and overturn Jim Crow laws . In 1967, the Supreme Court struck down the state's ban on interracial marriage with Loving v. Virginia . In 1968, Governor Mills Godwin called a commission to rewrite the state constitution. The new constitution, which banned discrimination and removed articles that now violated federal law, passed in
7515-560: The Committee of Nine . During the post-war Reconstruction era , African Americans were able to unite in communities, particularly around Richmond , Danville , and the Tidewater region , and take a greater role in Virginia society; many achieved some land ownership during the 1870s. Virginia adopted a constitution in 1868 which guaranteed political, civil, and voting rights , and provided for free public schools. However, with many railroad lines and other infrastructure destroyed during
7682-862: The Korean War , and moved to Langley in 1961, in part due to a decision by the National Security Council that the agency relocate outside the District of Columbia. The Pentagon , built in Arlington during World War II as the headquarters of the Department of Defense, was struck by a hijacked plane in the September 11, 2001 attacks . Mass shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007 and in Virginia Beach in 2019 led to passage of gun control measures in 2020. Racial injustice and
7849-663: The New World , leading to Virginia's nickname as the Old Dominion . Slaves from Africa and land from displaced native tribes fueled the growing plantation economy, but also fueled conflicts both inside and outside the colony. Virginians fought for the independence of the Thirteen Colonies in the American Revolution , and helped establish the new national government. During the American Civil War ,
8016-707: The Southwest Mountains around Charlottesville . The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the Appalachian Mountains with the highest points in the Commonwealth, the tallest being Mount Rogers at 5,729 feet (1,746 m). The Ridge-and-Valley region is west of the mountains, carbonate rock based, and includes the Massanutten Mountain ridge and the Great Appalachian Valley , which
8183-624: The State of Palestine under both Fatah (detailed above) and Hamas , Syria , and Yemen currently have provisional governments. The Syrian provisional governments are opposition groups in rebellion against their internationally recognized government. Afghanistan's provisional government is unrecognized, but is de facto the country's sole governing body. Myanmar and Yemen have both ruling and opposition provisional governments. Provisional governments were also established throughout Europe as occupied nations were liberated from Nazi occupation by
8350-723: The Torpedo Factory in Alexandria had over 5,050. High-school student Barbara Rose Johns started a strike in 1951 at her underfunded and segregated school in Prince Edward County . The protests led Spottswood Robinson and Oliver Hill to file a lawsuit against the county . Their case joined Brown v. Board of Education at the Supreme Court, which rejected the doctrine of " separate but equal " in 1954. The segregationist establishment, led by Senator Harry F. Byrd and his Byrd Organization , reacted with
8517-552: The Virginia big-eared bat , the state mammal . The Virginia opossum is the only marsupial native to the United States and Canada, and the native Appalachian cottontail was recognized in 1992 as a distinct species of rabbit, one of three found in the state. Whales, dolphins, and porpoises have been recorded in Virginia's coastal waters, with bottlenose dolphins being the most frequent aquatic mammals . Virginia's bird fauna comprises 422 counted species, of which 359 are regularly occurring and 214 have bred in Virginia, while
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#17327652238258684-500: The breeding of slaves , often through rape, a profitable business. Slaves in the Richmond area were also forced into industrial jobs, including mining and shipbuilding. The failed slave uprisings of Gabriel Prosser in 1800, George Boxley in 1815, and Nat Turner in 1831, however, marked the growing resistance to slavery. Afraid of further uprisings, Virginia's government in the 1830s encouraged free Blacks to migrate to Liberia . On October 16, 1859, abolitionist John Brown led
8851-431: The class divide by disenfranchising and restricting the movement of indentured servants, who made up around eighty percent of the workforce. On the colony's frontier, tribes like the Tutelo and Doeg were being squeezed by Seneca raiders from the north, leading to more confrontations with colonists. In 1676, several hundred working-class followers of Nathaniel Bacon , upset by Berkeley's refusal to retaliate against
9018-438: The government of Ukraine . Virginia Virginia , officially the Commonwealth of Virginia , is a state in the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains . The state's capital is Richmond and its most populous city is Virginia Beach . Its most populous subdivision is Fairfax County , part of Northern Virginia , where slightly over
9185-549: The headright system tried to solve this by granting colonists farmland for their help attracting indentured servants . Enslaved Africans were first sold in Virginia in 1619. Though other Africans arrived as indentured servants and could be freed after four to seven years, the basis for lifelong slavery was developed in legal cases like those of John Punch in 1640 and John Casor in 1655. Laws passed in Jamestown defined slavery as race-based in 1661, as inherited maternally in 1662, and as enforceable by death in 1669. From
9352-462: The siege of Yorktown . His surrender on October 19, 1781, led to peace negotiations in Paris and secured the independence of the colonies. Virginians were instrumental in writing the United States Constitution : James Madison drafted the Virginia Plan in 1787 and the Bill of Rights in 1789. Virginia ratified the Constitution on June 25, 1788. The three-fifths compromise ensured that Virginia, with its large number of slaves, initially had
9519-446: The state fish . Downhill in the Piedmont, stripeback darter and Roanoke bass become common, as do swampfish , bluespotted sunfish , and pirate perch in the Tidewater . The Chesapeake Bay hosts clams, oysters, and 350 species of saltwater and estuarine fish , including the bay's most abundant finfish, the Bay anchovy , as well as the invasive blue catfish . An estimated 317 million Chesapeake blue crabs live in
9686-497: The "Virgin Queen" or that they viewed the land as being untouched) or related to an Algonquin phrase, Wingandacoa or Windgancon , or leader's name, Wingina , as heard by the expedition. The name initially applied to the entire coastal region from South Carolina in the south to Maine in the north, along with the island of Bermuda . Raleigh's colony failed, but the potential financial and strategic gains still captivated many English policymakers. In 1606, King James I issued
9853-441: The 1930s to over one million by the 2010s. Native carnivorans include black bears , who have a population of around five to six thousand in the state, as well as bobcats , coyotes , both gray and red foxes , raccoons , weasels and skunks . Rodents include groundhogs , nutria , beavers , both gray squirrels and fox squirrels , chipmunks, and Allegheny woodrats , while the seventeen bat species include brown bats and
10020-416: The 2022–2023 winter season. Climate change in Virginia is leading to higher temperatures year-round as well as more heavy rain and flooding events. Urban heat islands can be found in many Virginia cities and suburbs, particularly in neighborhoods linked to historic redlining . The air in Virginia has statistically improved since 1998. The closure and conversion of coal power plants in Virginia and
10187-427: The Appalachian Mountains can lead to significant snowfalls across the state, such as the January 2016 blizzard , which created the state's highest recorded one-day snowfall of 36.6 inches (93 cm) near Bluemont . On average, cities in Virginia can receive between 5.8–12.3 inches (15–31 cm) of snow annually, but recent winters have seen below-average snowfalls, and much of Virginia had no measurable snow during
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#173276522382510354-678: The Black population was reduced by the Great Migration to northern industrial cities in the first half of the 20th century, since 1965 there has been a reverse migration of Blacks returning south . The Commonwealth has the highest number of Black-white interracial marriages in the US , and 8.2% of Virginians describe themselves as multiracial . More recent immigration since the late 20th century has resulted in new communities of Hispanics and Asians. As of 2020 , 10.5% of Virginia's total population describe themselves as Hispanic or Latino , and 8.8% as Asian . The state's Hispanic population rose by 92% from 2000 to 2010, with two-thirds of Hispanics in
10521-399: The Census Bureau recognizes several hundred unincorporated communities . Over three million people, 35% of Virginians, live in the twenty jurisdictions collectively defined as Northern Virginia , part of the larger Washington metropolitan area and the Northeast megalopolis . Fairfax County , with more than 1.1 million residents, is Virginia's most populous jurisdiction, and has
10688-469: The Civil War, the Commonwealth was deeply in debt, and in the late 1870s redirected money from public schools to pay bondholders. The Readjuster Party formed in 1877 and won legislative power in 1879 by uniting Black and white Virginians behind a shared opposition to debt payments and the perceived plantation elites . The Readjusters focused on building up schools, like Virginia Tech and Virginia State , and successfully forced West Virginia to share in
10855-577: The Confederacy, and the Confederate Congress and Davis were in essential agreement. During the second half of the war, the Davis administration's program became more demanding, and the Confederate Congress responded by becoming more assertive in the law-making process even before the 1863 elections. It began to modify administration proposals, substitute its own measures, and sometimes it refused to act at all. While it initiated few major policies, it often concerned itself with details of executive administration. Despite its devotion to Confederate independence, it
11022-402: The Confederate Congress since December 1861 for the first national draft on the North American continent, Davis finally proposed military conscription of all men between 18 and 35 without deferring to the states for a policy unauthorized in the Confederate Constitution. The conscription bill was staffed by Robert E. Lee , and the draft was then forwarded to Secretary of War Judah P. Benjamin . It
11189-436: The Confederate apportionment, reenacting election laws conforming to Confederate timetables, permitting out-of-state voting by soldiers and refugees, and electing two Confederate Congress senators to meet at the permanent Congress called on February 18, 1862. The Confederate Congresses and the Davis administration were the only two national civilian administrative bodies for the Confederacy. The Confederate constitution contained
11356-448: The Confederate seat of government might eventually be moved to Washington itself, provided that Maryland , a slave state with considerable pro-Confederate sympathies, were to come under Confederate control. Since none of this ever occurred, the permanent Confederate Congress continued to meet in Richmond until its dissolution. Elections for the First Confederate States Congress were held on November 6, 1861. While Congressional elections in
11523-442: The Deep South. Southern members of Congress repeatedly addressed their constituents, saying that all hope of sectional relief and redress was done and that "the sole and primary aim of each slaveholding State ought to be its speedy and absolute separation from an unnatural and hostile Union." A chain reaction was set off, as the "secessionists", "straight-outs", and " States' rights men" demanded separate state action to withdraw from
11690-431: The Fifth Session reached two of the most far-reaching decisions for the Confederacy, both politically and militarily. The border states of Missouri and Kentucky were admitted into the Confederate States of America, requiring offensive military decisions otherwise uncalled for in the western theater, including violating Kentucky's neutrality. Their admission also provided a solid two-state delegation support amounting to 17% of
11857-577: The Great Dismal and Nottoway swamps. Other common trees include red spruce, Atlantic white cedar , tulip-poplar , and the flowering dogwood , the state tree and flower . Plants like milkweed , dandelions, daisies, ferns, and Virginia creeper , which is featured on the state flag , are also common. The Thompson Wildlife Area in Fauquier is known for having one of the largest populations of trillium wildflowers in North America. White-tailed deer , one of 75 mammal species found in Virginia, rebounded from an estimated population of as few as 25,000 in
12024-901: The House and 15% of the Senate backing the Davis administration throughout the existence of the Confederacy. Treaties with the Five Civilized Tribes also allowed for their seating non-voting representatives in the Confederate Congress, as did the Arizona Territory . With the short-lived claim to the far-western Arizona Territory, by the end of 1861, the Confederacy had gained the greatest extent of its territorial expansion. After that point, its de facto governance contracted as Union military actions prevailed. While
12191-791: The Iroquois, and other allied tribes on both sides. A militia from several British colonies, called the Virginia Regiment , was led by Major George Washington , himself one of the investors in the Ohio Company. In the decade following the French and Indian War , the British Parliament passed new taxes which were deeply unpopular in the colonies, and in the House of Burgesses ; opposition to taxation without representation
12358-460: The Kentucky border and is one of only two inter-state parks in the United States. Sustainable logging is allowed in 26 state forests managed by the Virginia Department of Forestry totaling 71,972 acres (291.3 km ), as is hunting in 44 Wildlife Management Areas run by the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources covering over 205,000 acres (829.6 km ). The Chesapeake Bay is not
12525-578: The May 23 referendum, armed pro-Confederate groups prevented the casting and counting of votes from areas that opposed secession. Representatives from 27 of these northwestern counties instead began the Wheeling Convention , which organized a government loyal to the Union and led to the separation of West Virginia as a new state. The armies of the Union and Confederacy first met on July 21, 1861, in Battle of Bull Run near Manassas, Virginia ,
12692-555: The Ohio Valley region has helped cut the amount of particulate matter in Virginia's air in half. Current plans call for 30% of the Commonwealth's electricity to be renewable by 2030 and for all to be carbon-free by 2050. Forests cover 62% of Virginia as of 2021 , of which 80% is considered hardwood forest, meaning that trees are primarily deciduous and broad-leaved . The other 20% is pine, with loblolly and shortleaf pine dominating much of central and eastern Virginia. In
12859-598: The Permanent Confederate Constitution unanimously. On March 12, Howell Cobb of Georgia, as president of the Constitutional Convention, forwarded it to the state secessionist conventions. Several Congressmen returned to their home states to lobby for adoption, and all conventions ratified without submitting the new Constitution to a referendum by the people. The permanent Constitution, like the provisional one before it,
13026-537: The President and his administration. In the first year of the Provisional Congress, opposition stemmed from personal and philosophical differences with Jefferson Davis. Davis spoke in states' rights terms, but his actions were increasingly nationalist from early on, and he freely used his veto power against bills meant to limit national policy in a way that led to charges of "military despotism". Some opposition came from personal dislike of Davis; other opponents believed
13193-485: The President might appoint cabinet members from Congress. In an effort at government economy, the president was authorized to veto individual items from appropriation bills. The Provisional Constitution organized each state into a federal judicial district — this provision was adopted in the permanent Confederate Constitution, but, in the only amendment to either document, this provision was amended to allow Congress to determine federal districts on May 21, 1861. A supreme court
13360-492: The Provisional Congress fairly represented the diversity of the Southern states, excluding, of course, the millions of black people held in bondage throughout the South. Fifty delegates attended the first sessions at Montgomery. A majority of them had served in state secessionist conventions, and, overall in Congress, straight-out secessionists held a three-to-two ratio over the former conditional unionists. Alabama and Mississippi had
13527-402: The Provisional Congress, the expected political rivalries between secessionist fire-eaters and conservative conditional unionists did not appear, nor did the older factions of former Democrats versus former Whigs. Past politics were reserved for short-hand labeling during election campaigns. The main basis for political division in the Confederate Congress were the issues related to the policies of
13694-443: The Provisional Congress. Six state conventions elected two delegates at large, and one from each congressional district. Florida allowed its secessionist governor to appoint the state delegation. There was no popular election to the Provisional Congress; vacancies were filled by the secessionist conventions, state legislatures or temporarily by a convention president. Historian of the Confederate Congress, Wilfred Buck Yearns, held that
13861-655: The U.S. Census Bureau found that only 0.5% of Virginians were exclusively American Indian or Alaska Native , though 2.1% were in some combination with other ethnicities. The state government has extended recognition to eleven tribes. Seven tribes also have federal recognition. The Pamunkey and Mattaponi have reservations on tributaries of the York River in the Tidewater region . [REDACTED] American Community Survey five-year estimate According to U.S. Census data as of 2022 on Virginia residents aged five and older, 83% (6,805,548) speak English at home as
14028-655: The U.S. Congress did not open its galleries to newspaper reporters until 1800. Nevertheless, by summer 1862, newspapers such as the Daily Richmond Examiner began objecting to the closed sessions. On May 21, 1861, the Provisional Congress ordered elections for the First Congress under the Permanent Constitution to be held on the first Wednesday in November. Election campaigning for the First Congress went quietly, with newspapers announcing
14195-552: The U.S. are under Coles Hill, Virginia . Despite a challenge that reached the U.S. Supreme Court twice , the state has banned its mining since 1982 due to environmental and public health concerns. Virginia has a humid subtropical climate that transitions to humid continental west of the Blue Ridge Mountains . Seasonal extremes vary from average lows of 25 °F (−4 °C) in January to average highs of 86 °F (30 °C) in July. The Atlantic Ocean and Gulf Stream have
14362-451: The Union by overwhelming majorities. On May 6, 1861, the Confederate Congress officially declared war on the United States and authorized the President to use all land and naval forces in pursuit of the war that had commenced. Arizona secessionists met in convention at La Mesilla and resolved to leave the Union on March 16, and duly sent a delegate to Montgomery to lobby for admission. On January 18, 1862, Congress seated Granville H. Oury as
14529-557: The United States and immediate regrouping as a Southern union for self defense. Cooperation towards such a new government was being achieved even before the Montgomery Convention, as the Southern states had been exchanging a series of commissioners to determine their joint action since the fall of 1860. On December 31, 1860, the South Carolina Convention issued an invitation to Southern states to form
14696-478: The United States as of 2020 . El Salvador is the most common foreign country of birth, with India , Mexico , South Korea , the Philippines , and Vietnam as other common birthplaces. The state's most populous racial group, non-Hispanic whites , has declined as a proportion of the population from 76% in 1990 to 58.6% in 2020. Immigrants from Britain and Ireland settled throughout the Commonwealth during
14863-790: The United States were held in even-numbered years, elections for Confederate Congressmen occurred in odd-numbered years. The First Congress met in four sessions in Richmond. In the 105 House seats and 26 Senate seats, altogether 267 men served in the Confederate Congress. About a third had served in the U.S. Congress, and others had prior experience in their state legislatures. Only twenty-seven served continuously, including House Speaker Thomas S. Bocock and Senate President pro tempore Robert M. T. Hunter of Virginia, William Waters Boyce and William Porcher Miles of South Carolina, Benjamin Harvey Hill of Georgia, and Louis Wigfall of Texas. There
15030-489: The United States. Virginia has a total area of 42,774.2 square miles (110,784.7 km ), including 3,180.13 square miles (8,236.5 km ) of water, making it the 35th- largest state by area. It is bordered by Maryland and Washington, D.C. to the northeast; by the Atlantic Ocean to the east; by North Carolina to the south; by Tennessee to the southwest; by Kentucky to the west; and by West Virginia to
15197-530: The Virginia General Assembly proposed a new surveying commission in 1871. Representatives from Tennessee preferred to keep the less-straight 1803 line, and in 1893, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled for them against Virginia . One result is how the city of Bristol is divided in two between the states. The Chesapeake Bay separates the contiguous portion of the Commonwealth from the two-county peninsula of Virginia's Eastern Shore . The bay
15364-454: The Virginia legislature invited the Confederate Congress to move to Richmond. After the state's voters overwhelmingly ratified the secession decisions a month later, the Congress ordered the next session to convene in Richmond on July 20. Because Davis believed the Confederacy should embrace Kentucky and Missouri, the Provisional Congress appropriated $ 1 million each in late August to secure secession in those states. The Provisional Congress in
15531-486: The administration, and no major disasters had occurred. But during the spring of 1862 the pace of war quickened, and Union operations began in the West and along the coasts, resulting in Confederate territorial losses. It became evident that legislation could not be equitably applied in the lost territory and among the occupied population, and that additional burdens would fall on fewer Confederates. While administration support
15698-739: The area at that time included the Algonquian in the Tidewater region , which they referred to as Tsenacommacah , the Iroquoian -speaking Nottoway and Meherrin to the north and south, and the Tutelo , who spoke Siouan , to the west. In response to threats from these other groups to their trade network, thirty or so Virginia Algonquian -speaking tribes consolidated during the 1570s under Wahunsenacawh, known in English as Chief Powhatan . Powhatan controlled more than 150 settlements that had
15865-640: The area held by the Seneca and their larger Iroquois Nation , and in 1748, a group of wealthy speculators, backed by the British monarchy, formed the Ohio Company to start English settlement and trade in the Ohio Country west of the Appalachian Mountains . France, which claimed this area as part of New France , viewed this as a threat, and in 1754 the French and Indian War engulfed England, France,
16032-659: The army and revolutionary militias. Virginia was the first colony to ratify the Articles of Confederation in December 1777. In April 1780, the capital was moved to Richmond at the urging of Governor Thomas Jefferson, who feared that Williamsburg's coastal location would make it vulnerable to British attack. British forces landed around Portsmouth in October 1780, and soldiers under Benedict Arnold raided Richmond in January 1781. The British army had over seven thousand soldiers and twenty-five warships stationed in Virginia at
16199-550: The attempt to raise 2,000 sailors for the duration, but the quota was not met. The draft law of April 16, 1862, in the First Session of the First Congress allowed conscripts to choose their branch of service. Navy enlistment was so small that state courts later recruited sailors by sentencing criminals to serve in the Navy. On May 23, the Virginia Secession Convention voted to secede, and, shortly thereafter,
16366-547: The bay as of 2024 . There are 34 native species of crayfish, like the Big Sandy . Amphibians found in Virginia include the Cumberland Plateau salamander and Eastern hellbender , while the northern watersnake is the most common of the 32 snake species. As of 2019 , roughly 16.2% of land in the Commonwealth is protected by federal, state, and local governments and non-profits. Federal lands account for
16533-566: The beginning of 1781, but General Charles Cornwallis and his superiors were indecisive, and maneuvers by the three thousand soldiers under the Marquis de Lafayette and twenty-nine allied French warships together managed to confine the British to a swampy area of the Virginia Peninsula in September. Around sixteen thousand soldiers under George Washington and Comte de Rochambeau quickly converged there and defeated Cornwallis in
16700-726: The border states believed the new nation about to be born in a revolution to perpetuate slavery was the logical result of defeats in sectional contests. The 1859 raid at the federal Harpers Ferry Armory in Harper's Ferry , then in Virginia , at the confluence of the Shenandoah with the Potomac River , by abolitionist John Brown to free slaves in Virginia was hailed in the North by other abolitionists, who proclaimed that it
16867-425: The campaign leading up to state conventions, secessionist leaders had assured the Southern people that severing ties with the United States would be an uncontested event. As a precautionary measure, on February 28, the Provisional Congress authorized Davis to take control of all military operations among the states in the Confederacy, and on March 6 it authorized raising 100,000 troops for Confederate national forces for
17034-528: The colonial period, when roughly three-fourths of immigrants came as indentured servants . The Appalachian mountains and Shenandoah Valley have many settlements that were populated by German and Scotch-Irish immigrants in the 18th and 19th centuries, often following the Great Wagon Road . Over ten percent of Virginians have German ancestry as of 2020 . The largest minority group in Virginia are Blacks and African Americans, about one-fifth of
17201-633: The colonial period. Only three other independent cities exist elsewhere in the US. The differences between counties and cities in Virginia are small and have to do with how each assess new taxes, whether a referendum is necessary to issue bonds, and with the application of Dillon's Rule , which limits the authority of cities and counties to countermand acts expressly allowed by the General Assembly . Counties can also have incorporated towns , and while there are no further administrative subdivisions ,
17368-506: The colony's start, residents agitated for greater local control, and in 1619, certain male colonists began electing representatives to an assembly, later called the House of Burgesses , that negotiated issues with the governing council appointed by the London Company. Unhappy with this arrangement, the monarchy revoked the company's charter and began directly naming governors and Council members in 1624. In 1635, colonists arrested
17535-618: The committee report the following day, the convention of secession delegates assembled, with one vote cast for each state delegation, unanimously approved the Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States on February 8. The Provisional Constitution was, as Alexander H. Stephens noted, "the Constitution of the United States with such changes as are necessary to meet the exigencies of the times." In
17702-517: The concentration of independent cities in the Tidewater region is that several rural counties there re-incorporated as cities or consolidated with existing cities to try to hold on to their new suburban neighborhoods that started booming in the 1950s , since cities like Norfolk and Portsmouth were able to annex land from adjoining counties until a moratorium in 1987. Others, like Poquoson , became cities to try to preserve racial segregation during
17869-467: The date of their enlistment. Thousands of additional volunteers in 1862 and 1863 enlisted to avoid the odium of being labeled a "conscript". Lee was able to use the reinforced army of trained recruits to defeat General George B. McClellan in the Seven Days Battles immediately before Richmond June 25 – July 1, when the army otherwise might have been halved by lapsing enlistments. Generally,
18036-409: The desegregation era of the 1970s. The 2020 census found the state resident population was 8,631,393, a 7.9% increase since the 2010 census . Another 23,149 Virginians live overseas, giving the state a total population of 8,654,542. Virginia has the fourth-largest overseas population of U.S. states due to its federal employees and military personnel. The fertility rate in Virginia as of 2020
18203-755: The duration of the Civil War. Following the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter in April 1861, the remaining six states admitted to the Confederate States of America with representation in its Congresses met in three additional sessions between July 1861 and February 1862 in the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, Virginia . The Virginia secessionist convention was already in session, and, after Lincoln's call-up of 75,000 troops to secure federal property, on April 17 that convention voted 88 to 55 to secede. North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas soon after called secessionist conventions that voted to leave
18370-541: The eastern edge is the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, where over 1.7 million reside across six counties and nine cities, including the Commonwealth's three most populous independent cities: Virginia Beach , Chesapeake , and Norfolk . Neighboring Suffolk , which includes a portion of the Great Dismal Swamp , is the largest city by area at 429.1 square miles (1,111 km ). One reason for
18537-670: The economy in Northern Virginia is driven by technology companies and U.S. federal government agencies. Hampton Roads is also the site of the region's main seaport and Naval Station Norfolk , the world's largest naval base. Virginia's history begins with several Indigenous groups , including the Powhatan . In 1607, the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent English colony in
18704-452: The election and gently observing that the tickets offered good and true men. Despite some few purely local contests, the outcome of these first Confederate congressional elections depended chiefly on the connections of friendships formed during earlier politics. Secessionists and unionists, Democrats and Whigs, had all previously had networks, and even without partisan labels, they all were practical men who used their previous contacts to get out
18871-440: The end of slavery across the country. The seizure of Fort Sumter by Confederate forces on April 14, 1861, prompted Lincoln to call for a federal army of 75,000 men from state militias . The Virginia Secession Convention of 1861 voted on April 17 to secede on the condition it was approved in a referendum the next month. The convention voted to join the Confederacy, which named Richmond its capital on May 20. During
19038-403: The favor by holding onto the opinions that got them elected. Despite some resistance to the Davis administration proposals, because victory seemed imminent, little of the Confederacy was occupied, and any legislation that might require real sacrifice among the citizenry seemed unnecessary. Most Congressional debates were kept secret from the public, measures passed with substantial majorities, and
19205-403: The first of several invasions into Union territory. During the next three years of war, more battles were fought in Virginia than anywhere else, including the battles of Fredericksburg , Chancellorsville , Spotsylvania , and the concluding Battle of Appomattox Court House , where Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865. Virginia was formally restored to the United States in 1870, due to the work of
19372-468: The initial response to calls to rally to the Confederate Army and state militias was overwhelming in the short run, Davis foresaw that substantial numbers of the twelve-month volunteers would not re-enlist. Fully half of the entire Confederate Army might vanish in the spring of 1862. In an effort to extend volunteer service, on December 11, 1861, Congress provided for a $ 50 reenlistment bounty and
19539-578: The land on Virginia's islands, which include Tangier Island in the bay and Chincoteague , one of 23 barrier islands on the Atlantic coast. The Tidewater is a coastal plain between the Atlantic coast and the fall line . It includes the Eastern Shore and major estuaries of Chesapeake Bay. The Piedmont is a series of sedimentary and igneous rock -based foothills east of the mountains. The region, known for its heavy clay soil, includes
19706-556: The large states. The reservations of the South Carolina secession convention ratification were never taken up by any other state legislatures. Sitting as the Provisional Congress, the gathering elected Jefferson Davis President of the Confederate States of America on February 9, the day after the Provisional Constitution had been adopted and five days after initially convening in Montgomery. On February 21,
19873-466: The largest bloc in the House of Representatives . Together with the Virginia dynasty of presidents, this gave the Commonwealth national importance. Virginia is called the "Mother of States" because of its role in being carved into states such as Kentucky , and for the numbers of American pioneers born in Virginia. Between 1790 and 1860, the number of slaves in Virginia rose from around 290 thousand to over 490 thousand, roughly one-third of
20040-440: The late afternoon and evenings between April and September. These months are also the most common for tornadoes , eight of which touched down in the Commonwealth in 2023. Hurricanes and tropical storms can occur from August to October. The deadliest natural disaster in Virginia was Hurricane Camille , which killed over 150 people in 1969 mainly in inland Nelson County . Between December and March, cold-air damming caused by
20207-873: The majority, with thirty National Park Service units, such as Great Falls Park and the Appalachian Trail , and one national park, Shenandoah . Almost forty percent of Shenandoah's total 199,173 acres (806 km ) area has been designated as wilderness under the National Wilderness Preservation System . The U.S. Forest Service administers the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests , which cover more than 1.6 million acres (6,500 km ) within Virginia's mountains, and continue into West Virginia and Kentucky . The Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge also extends into North Carolina, as does
20374-620: The middle of the 20th century, are the focus of conservation efforts in the state and a reintroduction program in Shenandoah National Park . Virginia has 226 species of freshwater fish from 25 families, a diversity attributable to the area's varied and humid climate, topography, interconnected river system, and lack of Pleistocene glaciers . Common examples on the Cumberland Plateau and higher-elevation regions include Eastern blacknose dace , sculpin , smallmouth bass , redhorse sucker , Kanawha darter , and brook trout ,
20541-414: The most attention, most importantly related to fiscal matters such as export duties, discouraging internal improvements but for navigational aids, and the self-sustaining post office. To limit log-rolling, a two-thirds vote in each house was required for appropriations bills not recommended by an executive department, and the president had line-item-veto power. In Article III, radical states' righters struck
20708-688: The most significant feature of the Montgomery gathering was its moderation. The secessionist conventions had not only intended to establish a slaveholding republic of the Lower South, they also hoped to attract the border slaveholding states, and they sought to reconcile their own in-state cooperationists and union men. The result was that the Confederate Provisional Congress began its work in relative harmony. The state secessionist conventions had generally chosen delegates that truly represented their congressional districts, so
20875-474: The north and drifted an additional 3.5 miles by the border's westernmost point . After Tennessee joined the U.S. in 1796, new surveyors worked in 1802 and 1803 to reset their border with Virginia as a line from the summit of White Top Mountain to the top of Tri-State Peak in the Cumberland Mountains . However, deviations in that border were identified when it was re-marked in 1856, and
21042-404: The northwest. That Virginia's boundary with Maryland and Washington, D.C. only extends to the low-water mark of the south shore of the Potomac River has been an issue for water rights over the years. . Virginia's southern border was defined in 1665 as 36°30' north latitude . Surveyors marking the border with North Carolina in the 18th century however started about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) to
21209-434: The objections of the South Carolina secessionist convention. Returning escaped slaves was removed from the discretion of state governors in the provisional Constitution and made the responsibility of the Confederate government. The permanent Confederate Constitution served for the duration of the government, with only one Amendment on May 21, 1861, when Congress was given the right to draw multiple federal judicial districts in
21376-518: The only state delegations with majority conditional unionists. Most of the Provisional Congressional delegates were prominent men of major political parties. The majority of the former Democrats to former Whigs was narrow, with Alabama and Louisiana delegations majority Whig and Georgia evenly divided. Thirty-six members of Congress had attended college, forty-two were licensed lawyers, and seventeen were planters. Their average age
21543-449: The political parties of the recent 1850s in the United States in which they had formerly participated. The 2nd Confederate Congress met in two sessions following an intersession during the military campaign season beginning November 7, 1864, and ending on March 18, 1865, shortly before the conclusion of the Civil War and the downfall of the Confederacy . All legislative considerations of the Confederate Congress were secondary to winning
21710-461: The population. Virginia was a major destination of the Atlantic slave trade . The Igbo ethnic group of what is now southern Nigeria were the largest African group among slaves in Virginia. Blacks in Virginia also have more European ancestry than those in other southern states, and DNA analysis shows many have asymmetrical male and female ancestry from before the Civil War, evidence of European fathers and African or Native American mothers. Though
21877-620: The pre-war debt. But in 1883, they were divided by a proposed repeal of anti-miscegenation laws , and days before that year's election, a riot in Danville , involving armed policemen, left four Black men and one white man dead. These events motivated a push by white supremacists to seize political power through voter suppression , and segregationists in the Democratic Party won the legislature that year and maintained control for decades. They passed Jim Crow laws that established
22044-518: The presence of Confederate monuments in Virginia have also led to large demonstrations, including in August 2017, when a white supremacist drove his car into protesters , killing one, and in June 2020, when protests that were part of the larger Black Lives Matter movement brought about the removal of Confederate statues . Virginia is located in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of
22211-601: The presidency rightfully belonged to Robert Rhett . Henry S. Foote and Davis had a long running dislike for each other, which had previously lead to physical fight on the floor of the U.S. Congress. Another representative, William Lowndes Yancey , resented Davis for distributing patronage jobs. Even friends of Davis's resented his habit of leaving Congress in total ignorance of executive policy and administration. He disliked personal interaction and met members only in state delegations. Generally speaking, Davis showed little interest in compromise, and Congressional legislators returned
22378-598: The president's messages were encouraging. Deputies from the first seven states convening in Montgomery, Alabama , resolved themselves into the Confederate Provisional Congress. Delegations from Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, and Texas met in the Alabama State Capitol in two sessions from February through May 1861. A committee of twelve drafted a proposal from Chairman Christopher G. Memminger from February 5–7. Receiving
22545-540: The provisional Constitution's provision extending federal jurisdiction over cases between citizens of different states. Additionally, federal judicial power no longer applied to all cases of law and equity to accommodate the Roman law concept of single jurisdiction in Louisiana and Texas. Congressional apportionment remained on the U.S. federal ratio, with three-fifths of the slave population counted for representation, over
22712-469: The rest are mostly winter residents or transients . Water birds include sandpipers, wood ducks, and Virginia rail , while common inland examples include warblers, woodpeckers, and cardinals, the state bird . Birds of prey include osprey, broad-winged hawks , and barred owls . There are no endemic bird species. Audubon recognizes 21 Important Bird Areas in the state. Peregrine falcons , whose numbers dramatically declined due to DDT poisoning in
22879-516: The seats with a former Democrat and a former Whig. Usually legislatures sent their best men to the Confederate Senate, for instance Robert M. T. Hunter of Virginia left his post as Confederate Secretary of State, and William Lowndes Yancey of Alabama left his post at Confederate Commissioner to England to be senators. The first general election held in the Confederacy went quietly. In mostly Union-controlled Missouri and Kentucky, where
23046-527: The secessionist Virginia General Assembly ( state legislature ). The precursor to the permanent Congressional legislature was the temporary Provisional Congress of the Confederate States , which helped establish the Confederacy as a state / nation with an organized government. Following elections held in individual states, refugee colonies, and army camps in November 1861, the 1st Confederate States Congress met in four sessions. The 1863 midterm elections led to many former Democrats losing to former Whigs ,
23213-408: The secessionist governments were in flight out of state, secessionist governors appointed senators, and elections for representatives were held by soldier and refugee ballot. The results returned most of the provisional delegates who sought election as congressmen, and those who did not run were replaced by men of similar background. About a third of those elected would become administration opponents in
23380-547: The state government in Richmond joined the Confederacy , while many northwestern counties remained loyal to the Union , which led to the separation of West Virginia in 1863. Although the state was under one-party rule for nearly a century following the Reconstruction era , both major political parties have been competitive in Virginia since the repeal of Jim Crow laws in the 1970s. Virginia's state legislature
23547-488: The state legislatures elect senators to the Confederate Congress, and there was virtually no political campaigning. The usual state practice while sending senators to the U.S. Congress was to divide the senate seats between two major geographical divisions in each state, and the practice continued. In states where the Democratic and Whig votes had been closely matched in the 1860 elections, the state legislatures also filled
23714-686: The state living in Northern Virginia . Northern Virginia also has a significant population of Vietnamese Americans , whose major wave of immigration followed the Vietnam War . Korean Americans have migrated there more recently, while about 45,000 Filipino Americans have settled in the Hampton Roads area. Tribal membership in Virginia is complicated by the legacy of the state's " pencil genocide " of intentionally categorizing Native Americans and Blacks together, and many tribal members do have African or European ancestry, or both. In 2020,
23881-587: The state population, and the number of slave owners rose to over 50 thousand. Both of these numbers represented the most in the U.S. The boom in Southern cotton production using cotton gins increased the amount of labor needed for harvesting raw cotton , but new federal laws prohibited the importation of slaves. Decades of monoculture tobacco farming had also degraded Virginia's agricultural productivity . Virginia plantations increasingly turned to exporting slaves , which broke up countless families and made
24048-545: The state than moving to it in 2021. This is largely credited to high home prices in Northern Virginia, which are driving residents there to relocate south; Raleigh is their top destination. Aside from Virginia, the top birth state for Virginians is New York , with the Northeast accounting for the largest number of domestic migrants into the state by region. About twelve percent of residents were born outside
24215-401: The surrender at Appomattox. On the other hand, members representing districts already overrun and those actively contested by Union advances became stalwart administration supporters, advancing more aggressive measures. These assured Davis a solid Congressional base in the middle of the war, numbering 11 of the 28 senators, and 27 of the 122 Representatives. After awaiting formal initiative from
24382-408: The territories, and the Democratic Party had split among Northern and Southern factions over the issue, especially in the controversial disputed 1860 presidential election . Sectional antagonism was magnified with the decline of the national Whig Party and the upsurge of the newly-organized Republican Party in 1854, was insistent on ending the extension of slavery in the western territories, which
24549-432: The tribes, burned Jamestown. Bacon's Rebellion forced the signing of Bacon's Laws , which restored some of the colony's rights and sanctioned both attacks on native tribes and the enslavement of their people. The Treaty of 1677 further reduced the independence of the tribes that signed it, and aided the colony's assimilation of their land in the years that followed. Colonists in the 1700s were pushing westward into
24716-505: The volunteers in the army supported conscription, and most of the Southern press endorsed the measure, but a strong minority opposed. On April 14, Senator William Lowndes Yancey, a fire-eater of Alabama 1862–1863, proposed exemptions from the Confederate draft. It was termed "over generous" by one scholar, in a system of "class exemptions" related to the physically unfit, the politically connected, several service-related categories such as preachers, teachers and social workers, textile workers and
24883-462: The vote. While newspapers observed prior party affiliations, there were no issues, no visible organization, no interstate affiliations, and nothing other than unswerving devotion to Southern principles and Confederate independence reported. While the "straight-out" secessionists tried to make early support of disunion a test of loyalty, most men continued to vote for about the same candidates who they used to do. The Permanent Constitution required that
25050-483: The western and mountainous parts of the Commonwealth, oak and hickory are most common, while lower altitudes are more likely to have small but dense stands of hemlocks and mosses in abundance. Spongy moth infestations in oak trees and the blight in chestnut trees have decreased both of their numbers, leaving more room for hickory and the invasive tree of heaven . In the lowland tidewater and Piedmont , yellow pines tend to dominate, with bald cypress wetland forests in
25217-447: The word its modern meaning: A liberal government established to prepare for elections. Numerous provisional governments have been established since the 1850s. As of 2024, seven African countries currently have provisional governments: Libya , Sudan , Burkina Faso , Guinea , Mali , Niger and Gabon . As of 2024 in the Americas, only Haiti has a provisional government. As of 2024 in Asia, Afghanistan , Bangladesh , Myanmar ,
25384-409: Was 47, ranging from 72 to 31. Thirty-four had previous legislative experience, twenty-four having served in the U.S. Congress. Charles Conrad had served as Secretary of War under President Millard Fillmore , and John Tyler had been the tenth U.S. president. As Yearns noted, "As a whole the Provisional Congress represented a higher type of leadership than either of the subsequent congresses." During
25551-419: Was 55.8 per 1,000 females between the ages of 15 and 44, and the median age as of 2021 was the same as the national average of 38.8 years old. The geographic center of population is located northwest of Richmond in Hanover County , as of 2020 . Though still growing naturally as births outnumber deaths, Virginia has had a negative net migration rate since 2013, with 8,995 more people leaving
25718-444: Was a noble martyrdom, while many in the South saw Brown as a provocateur and dangerous extremist, seeking to incite servile insurrection and violent social upheaval. The North seemed unwilling to accept the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Dredd Scott case of March 1857, that slaves were not free citizens even if moved to Northern free states or to the western federal territories , and by implication, therefore guaranteeing slavery in
25885-520: Was a rapid turnover in Congressional membership, in part due to some securing an officer's commission for military service. The mercurial Vice President, Alexander H. Stephens , soon withdrew to his home state of Georgia, and Senator Hunter served as an acting Vice President and then later briefly as Secretary of State for the Davis administration. Throughout the existence of the Confederate Congress, its sessions were held in secrecy. Both U.S Continental and Confederation Congresses had been held in secret, and
26052-414: Was criticized by supporters of Davis for occasional independence, and censured in the dissenting press for not asserting itself more often. The Confederate Congress first met provisionally on February 4, 1861, in Montgomery, Alabama, to form a unified national government among states whose secessionist conventions had resolved to leave their union with the United States. Most Deep South residents and many in
26219-400: Was formed from the drowned river valley of the ancient Susquehanna River . Many of Virginia's rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay, including the Potomac , Rappahannock , York , and James , which create three peninsulas in the bay, traditionally referred to as "necks" named Northern Neck , Middle Peninsula , and the Virginia Peninsula from north to south. Sea level rise has eroded
26386-405: Was introduced into the Senate by Louis T. Wigfall of Texas, a fire-eating secessionist and one of the few states' rights leaders to support conscription. Enacted on April 16, the statute empowered the president to conscript directly, for three years or the duration, all men between ages 18 and 35 not exempted by law, and all of those enrolled in service would continue to serve for three years from
26553-506: Was led by Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee , among others. Virginians began to coordinate their actions with other colonies in 1773 and sent delegates to the Continental Congress the following year. After the House of Burgesses was dissolved in 1774 by the royal governor , Virginia's revolutionary leaders continued to govern via the Virginia Conventions . On May 15, 1776, the Convention declared Virginia's independence and adopted George Mason 's Virginia Declaration of Rights , which
26720-400: Was primarily modeled on the U.S. Constitution, modified by the Convention's desire to write a Southern constitution. The national government was clearly to be only an agent of the states, powers to the central government were "delegated" not "granted". It provided for a bicameral national legislature consisting of a House of Representatives and a Senate. The rights and duties of Congress received
26887-426: Was regularly used as a rock shelter by 9,800 years ago. During the late Woodland period (500–1000 CE ), tribes coalesced, and farming, first of corn and squash, began, with beans and tobacco arriving from the southwest and Mexico by the end of the period. Palisaded towns began to be built around 1200. The native population in the current boundaries of Virginia reached around 50,000 in the 1500s. Large groups in
27054-636: Was responsible for building 38 warships for the U.S. Navy between 1907 and 1923. During World War I , German submarines attacked ships outside the port, which was a major site for transportation of soldiers and supplies. After the war, a homecoming parade to honor African-American troops was attacked in July 1919 by the city's police as part of a renewed white-supremacy movement, known as Red Summer . The shipyard continued building warships in World War II , and quadrupled its pre-war labor force to 70,000 by 1943. The Radford Arsenal outside Blacksburg also employed 22,000 workers making explosives, while
27221-420: Was seen as a threat to the very existence of continued slavery in the South itself, and of a white Southern civilization. The increasing economic rivalry and gap of wealth between Northern industry and more mechanized farming versus Southern slave cash-crop agriculture seemed to be a losing battle that would permanently subject the South as diminished colonists dependent on an aggressive business world. Secession
27388-399: Was strongest in the First Session of the First Congress, strategic efforts at counterattacks into Kentucky and Maryland failed, and a war of attrition developed, leading many to criticize the administration for its war policy. Senator Robert M. T. Hunter of Virginia was an early supporter of Jefferson Davis's who turned severe critic, enough so that Lincoln recommended not arresting Hunter after
27555-402: Was then included in a new constitution that designated Virginia as a commonwealth . Another Virginian, Thomas Jefferson , drew upon Mason's work in drafting the national Declaration of Independence . After the American Revolutionary War began, George Washington was selected by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia to head the Continental Army , and many Virginians joined
27722-416: Was to be constituted by convening all the federal district judges. To continue judicial procedure in the Confederacy as it had been in the United States, judicial power was extended to all cases of law and equity arising under the laws of the United States. From February 28 until March 11, 1861, the Provisional Congress resolved itself into a Constitutional Convention each day, and, as a convention, it adopted
27889-420: Was to the state delegates meeting in Montgomery, Alabama , a clear cut solution to over several decades of humiliation, reverses, and defeats. A new nation of secessionist states exclusive to the South, would assure uncompromised slavery and deliver an independent economic security based on the King Cotton agriculture crop. The November 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln proved to be the deciding catalyst for
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